Under new coach, Cardinal enjoying best start in 20 years
An “old-school baseball” play, as David Esquer calls it, helps explain how Stanford has tied for its best start since 1998.
As Rice’s catcher reached for a throw Saturday, he was hit hard by a 6-1, 230-pound missile named Brandon Wulff. The ball was knocked free and Wulff scored, although he needed seven stitches as a result of the catcher’s mask mashing him on the mouth.
Stanford (8-0), ranked No. 4 in the nation by Baseball America, has gotten superior pitching from starters Tristan and Brendan Beck, Kris Bubic and Erik Miller and from relievers Jacob Palisch, Zach Grech and Jack Little, among others. Preseason All-America shortstop Nico Hoerner (11-for-29) and freshman outfielder Tim Tawa (9for-28) have been tough outs.
The Cardinal have been unbeatable even though second baseman Duke Kinamon — who strained a muscle while fielding a slow roller in warm-ups before the season opener — has yet to play.
As a result, Esquer was forced to make four lineup changes just before his first game as the Stanford skipper. Kinamon will miss the fourgame home series with Michigan that starts Friday night, but Esquer hopes he’s back for the Pac-12 opener against USC on March 23.
Meanwhile, the club does have a healthy Wulff, and that’s huge. The junior right fielder is 12-for-26 (.462) with a .692 slugging percentage and a .548 onbase percentage.
“He’s done a great job with two strikes,” Esquer said. “He’s had some two-strike base hits. I’m more proud of those than the home run. If you can be a tough out, with the strength and power that he has, that makes you more of a complete player.”
The home run to which he referred was a grand slam in the opening four-game sweep of Rice. Wulff called it “one of the best swings I’ve had in my life.”
According to the scouting report, Rice’s pitchers liked to start hitters with fastballs inside. “This one leaked over the plate a little bit,” he said.
Last year, as a sophomore, Wulff hit .231, which he attributes to being too worried about striking out. In 46 games (44 of which he started), he had nearly as many strikeouts (29) as he had hits (33).
He credits Esquer with stressing putting “our best bat speed on our pitch, not the pitcher’s pitch.” He also thinks Esquer has fostered a more relaxed attitude among the players, and that has paid off.
“We still have that urgency, that we want to win a national championship,” Wulff said. “No one’s really pressing. A lot of it comes from the leadership and experience that we have.”
Like the relief combo of Grech and Little, Wulff played at Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas. “My senior year, we were absolutely stacked,” Wulff said. “We had 13 D-1 guys. We won the state title.”
He didn’t play on Gorman’s powerhouse football team, partly because his father, an orthopedic surgeon, was too concerned with head injuries. Not that Brandon griped about it. “I never really watched football growing up,” he said. “To this day, I don’t understand it fully.”
What he did do growing up was play the piano for 14 years. In fact, he played the national anthem on an electric keyboard before a Stanford game last season.
“I was more nervous doing that in front of 500 people than playing in the regionals in front of 3,000,” he said. “I think it wrecked my first at-bat. I was still shaking from playing the anthem.”
He struck out. This year, though, he’s hitting all the right notes.